I’m Tue Gillen. Before I was assigned to the Cordova Ranger District, I worked as a restorer for eighteen months, and as a substitute schoolteacher on and off for three years. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, I’m surprisingly acclimated to the cold weather here. Because of my experience working in an abandoned mine turned tourist attraction (www.bonneterremine.com), I’m used to being in a rugged environment where you learn as you go. My experience in the Navy as an Operations Specialist has given me a good read of charts (maps).
What do I plan to get out of the experience? Simultaneous service to the country and service to the environment. It will be cold, wet, isolated … and I believe I have a duty to work in it because not many others can handle it. I want to break into the environmental field, and getting my hands dirty is all part of the lineup. Cold, wet, exhausting … I’m looking forward to it.
Hello everyone. The amount of projects, people, and friends I have met and made in Tillamook County because of Mt. Adams Institute’s VetsWork AmeriCorps program has been extraordinary. 
To jump into another year of volunteering wasn’t an easy choice. But to be honest, pursuing a career in our living earth isn’t easy either. I already know I have a passion for fishes and at this point I feel like I do know a good amount about them too. 
Since getting hired by the Mt. Adams Institute through the VetsWork AmeriCorps program in March, it has been an extremely busy time learning how fish hatcheries operate. I began my first day of work at the Carson National Fish Hatchery in Washington on March 25th, 2019. 
